Month: August 2009

Today is the last day for Green Go Food on NW 20th.
“Honestly we are giddy with delight. We are so excited to go get on with the life we’ve been yearning for for so long,” Dylan and Heidi Stockman write in their blog. The couple is following their dream to work on a farm. They opened Green Go Food in February after finding success at the local farmers markets. After realizing that they were working themselves into the ground they decided to sell, but never found a buyer. “Thank You to our Ballard community who has been so supportive.”

West Woodland Elementary will be getting a new track, field and rain garden thanks to the Neighborhood Matching Large Project Fund.
In May, Marilyn Loveness, the principal of West Woodland along with several others asked the Ballard District Council to support their request for $85,000 from the city. While they didn’t receive the full amount, they did receive $63,750. We spoke with Loveness this morning, “We are very excited about it,” she told us. She says this year will be the planning year and construction will begin next summer. “The first priority is to get the track around the field.” The field has been unusable during the rainy months and with the track, kids will be able to go outside and run. The second priority is getting the field in shape for soccer. At this point, “the dog population has showed up,” she says. One of the projects for students this year will be to make signs to ask people not to bring their dogs. The third phase of the project will be the rain garden. This announcement coincides with the 100th anniversary of the school.

Updated: The pilot of a small float plane is uninjured after his aircraft flipped in the water near Golden Gardens around 6:45 this morning.
Witnesses say the pilot was picked up by a nearby boat and taken to Shilshole Marina where he refused medical treatment. The pilot, Roger Collins, told KIRO7 that he was flying to Paine Field from Bremerton when his plane had electrical problems and he lost all controls, including controls of the landing gear. When he tried to land, the wheels on the pontoons caused the plane to flip.

Here’s a video clip shot by a My Ballard reader of the upside down plane being pulled into the dock shortly after the crash. A few hours later, recovery crews pulled the plane from the water (see photos of the recovery operation.)
“He looked like he was going to land and drop someone off to go fishing,” said Mark Smith, who witnessed the crash from the shore (watch interview). “It was so quiet, you could hear the water sliding across the pontoons on the plane,” he said. “You could hear the propeller slapping against the water as the nose tipped down as he stopped.” Smith said the pilot got out of the plane and stood on the struts of the wing. “A boat that had been coming out of the harbor picked him up within a minute. I guess he got his feet wet,” Smith told us.
The plane is now sitting at the end of the dock where it awaits pickup.

A second penguin has died at the new Humboldt Penguin exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo.
According to a press release sent out today, 21-year-old “Burkles” died Tuesday night from complications related to a possible case of avian malaria. The bird had been undergoing intensive treatment, including a blood transfusion, since the onset of the symptoms last week. “Penguins are known to be especially prone to avian malaria. However, like other diseases spread by mosquitoes, avian malaria is not typically a major concern in the Pacific Northwest because of our relatively small mosquito population,” said Dr. Darin Collins, Woodland Park Zoo Director of Animal Health. “It’s important to stress that zoo visitors are not at risk. Neither birds nor mosquitoes can transmit avian malaria to humans,” Dr. Collins added.

This is the second penguin death this month. It was thought that the first bird died after ingesting sealant material from a pipe. Subsequent tests done on that bird revealed the presence of avian malaria, which may have contributed to his death. Three other penguins are showing minor symptoms of avian malaria and are undergoing treatment. The zoo has sent in blood samples to the lab and results are due back within ten days. (Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo)

It’s free car wash day at Brown Bear Car Wash and many people are taking advantage of it.
We showed up about noon and the line – well, lines – flowed into the street. Although this line looks daunting, we’re told it moves pretty quickly. They seem pretty organized, funneling people from four lines into one. An employee said they’d get through all these cars in about 15 minutes. But there’s no break for these guys. Another employee told us that it’s been like this since they opened at 8 a.m. We expect it to stay busy until they close at 8 p.m.

Just before 10 a.m., a police car and Volkswagon collided at 8th Ave. and Market St., Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson told us.
Jamieson says initial reports are that there are no serious injuries. Seattle Fire was called to the scene because one of the airbags deployed, Jamieson said.
My Ballard reader Greg says he was a witness to the accident, “A police officer was heading south on 8th, under full lights and sirens.” He says the officer stopped at the intersection, then headed through, and “a woman heading east in the right hand lane, driving a Saturn went through the intersection and hit the cop car on the passenger side.” Jamieson could not confirm the witness reports but says that police are investigating. Traffic was rerouted down 9th Ave. for a time, but the intersection has reopened.

As Seattlemedic7 posted in the forum, the safe was stolen at Taco Time at 2853 NW Market St. last night.
Seattle Police spokesman Detective Mark Jamieson says that a delivery person called police around 11:30 p.m. When officers arrived, they found the front door unlocked. Once inside, Jamieson says officers found the drive-thru window broken. An employee came to the restaurant and told police the only thing missing was a small safe. There is no suspect information. The delivery driver told police that he did not see or hear anything.

Firefighters are training at the abandoned blue house on the old Denny’s property before demolition.
The crew from Ladder 6 is on the roof with chainsaws, axes, and other tools practicing ventilation techniques. Dana Vander Houwen, spokesperson for the fire department, says that when a building is scheduled for demolition it is sometimes donated for training purposes. The Battalion Chief on the scene says that Ladder 8 will be over there later today and crews may be doing more training this weekend. Demolition permits for the blue two-story building and the commercial building were issued in July. Katie Vance with Rhapsody Partners, the developers of the property, told us recently that the structures will be down by the end of September.
Rhapsody Partners received the green light from the Design Review Board back in March for the Market Street Landing development that is slated to be built on the corner of 15th & Market. (Thanks Rob for the tip!)

After five years at their current location, Equinox Healing Arts is moving from 7513 Greenwood Ave. N to Ballard near Swedish Medical Center.
Equinox offers massage, doula services and childbirth education. They were voted “Reader’s Choice” for massage therapist by Seattle Magazine in 2007. PhinneyWood reports that the sign in their window says their landlord raised their rent too much, so they are forced to move. They expect to open at 5343 Tallman Ave. NW, Suite 207, by early September.Update: We’re told that Nikki Wolf Acupuncture will be practicing out of the same space in Ballard. A MyBallard reader emailed us, “Nikki has experience treating a wide range of issues, including chronic pain, depression, women’s health issues, pregnancy and postpartum imbalances, and pediatric disorders.”

We’re excited to announce an editorial partnership with the Seattle Times that encompasses My Ballard and the rest of Next Door Media’s sites, PhinneyWood, Queen Anne View, Magnolia Voice and Fremont Universe. The partnership originated with a grant by American University’s J-Lab, which aims to explore how established media companies can work together with promising neighborhood news sites.

You may have noticed over the last several weeks that SeattleTimes.com and MyBallard.com have been linking each other on stories, and that’s a component of the partnership. We’ll be exploring other ways to work together in coming weeks and months. Our friends at West Seattle Blog, Capitol Hill Seattle and Rainier Valley Post are also part of the partnership.

This is a testament to all of you — our readers, contributors and advertisers — who have helped make My Ballard a part of the neighborhood. My Ballard is powered by the neighorhood, not us. The vast majority of stories originate from our readers, and now some of the best stories will be linked from Seattle’s largest news site. We’re very pleased that the Times has chosen to work together with organic, neighborhood-grown news sites instead of creating competing efforts designed to draw advertising dollars away from the neighborhood.

And, of course, we’d also like to thank the editors of Next Door Media sites in our nearby neighborhoods: Doree Armstrong and Dale Steinke at PhinneyWood.com, John and Loree Schoonover at MagnoliaVoice.com, and Thea Chard and Judy at QueenAnneView.com.

The press release from the Seattle Times follows below…

The Seattle Times forms partnership with local news Web sites

PRESS RELEASE — The Seattle Times and some of Seattle’s most respected neighborhood news Web sites have struck a unique partnership as part of a nationwide Networked Journalism pilot project. The project, which will last one year, is overseen by American University’s J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The other national news organizations participating in the pilot program are The Miami Herald, The Charlotte Observer, the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times and TucsonCitizen.com.

The overall goals of the alliance are to explore new ways to broaden newsgathering capabilities and further connections within the community. The Seattle Times will work with community news producers and Web sites that are staffed with professionals who share The Seattle Times’ journalistic values.

“We’ve been moving down this track already, but much too slowly,” said David Boardman, executive editor of The Seattle Times. “This will both kick-start it, give us a better organizing framework and give us a way to share successes and challenges with others. It’s perfect timing.”

The four local producers and Web sites partnering with The Seattle Times are: Tracy Record, who runs West Seattle Blog and White Center Now; Kate Bergman, who runs Next Door Media, which includes My Ballard, PhinneyWood, Queen Anne View, Magnolia Voice and Fremont Universe; Justin Carder, who runs Capitol Hill Seattle and helped create Neighborlogs, which is the platform for several neighborhood sites in Seattle; and Amber Campbell, who runs the Rainier Valley Post.

The goals of the partnership include: enhancing communication between the respective Web sites and The Seattle Times, and discovering ways to share news tips and collaborate on future news gathering; linking to and promoting stories on partner sites when it may help fill coverage holes; exploring tools that could enhance advertising opportunities across the partner sites; and learning about how such partnerships can benefit the respective sites.

At the conclusion of the project, The Seattle Times will meet with the four other nationally participating news organizations and the lessons learned will appear in an overall J-Lab report on how such Networked Journalism collaborations might work.